The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and in particular relates to a technique for reducing wasteful consumption of sheets of paper due to printing errors during duplex printing.
In order to reduce costs and effectively reuse resources, it is common practice to load sheets of paper on which simplex printing has already been performed (referred to below as reused sheets) into a specific one of a plurality of paper feed cassettes in an image forming apparatus, and to print on unprinted sides of the reused sheets. Unfortunately, the paper feed cassette in which the reused sheets are stored may be mistakenly selected when performing duplex printing for which it is necessary to use sheets of paper on which printing has not been performed on either side thereof (referred to below as new sheets). In such a situation, printing is performed on the sides of the reused sheets on which printing has already been performed, resulting in wasteful consumption of sheets of paper.
Various techniques have been disclosed in relation to the problem described above. For example, each paper feed cassette may be set in advance as either storing new sheets or reused sheets. With respect to the above configuration, a technique has been disclosed of when an instruction for duplex printing is received, performing simplex printing instead of duplex printing if the instruction indicates a sheet feed cassette that is set as storing reused sheets therein. The above technique can prevent printing from being mistakenly performed on the sides of reused sheets on which printing has already been performed and thus can reduce wasteful consumption of sheets of paper due to printing errors during duplex printing.